


Glossy

by Pascalle



Category: IMFACT (Band)
Genre: M/M, Nail Salon AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 00:49:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14485113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pascalle/pseuds/Pascalle
Summary: Every day, Sang walks by a nail salon.One day, a man with bright pink hair catches his eye working inside the salon.It's takes an embarrassingly long time for him to say anything about it.





	Glossy

**Author's Note:**

> i've been meaning to write more imfact for like....a Long Time but I just haven't had the chance to bc of school!! I'm almost out (forever) soon so hopefully i'll be updating more frequently, including my other imfact fic which has been on the backburner. 
> 
> but after seeing imfact with their nails all painted + that old vlive of ungjae saying nail art would be cool to do, how could i not do this kind of au
> 
> NOTE 12/28/18: I re-edited the fic. Not too much was changed overall, just some restructuring of sentences + wording to make more sense and made less clunky and fixing some spelling errors etc etc.

Sang stood in front of the small storefront, his right hand hovering in front of the door as he attempted to will himself into making some sort of movement, like pushing the door open and going inside. But as it seemed, for the fourth time (that week), his own anxiousness had beaten him out again. He let his arm fall limply to his side in defeat as he turned away and continued down the street, the scent of nail polish still clinging to his nostrils as he walked further and further away.

That nail salon had always been in the back of his mind, stored away like any other inane memory as it was one of the many small shops that he passed by on his way to class every day. On the days that he was running earlier than usual, he’d slow down his pace and take his time glancing through the windows of the boutiques, food joints, and other odds and ends stores that lined the road. On its own, the nail salon didn’t really stand out among all of them, but Sang could clearly remember the one thing that made it stand out from the rest. That thing, had begun only as a passing glance as he rushed to class. The memory was so vivid in his mind, the way he sped down the street, things slowing down suddenly in his mind as he turned to look through the windows of the nail salon without even thinking just at the right time to see a young man with bright pink hair and quirky feather earrings chatting with another young man at the register.

In reality, the whole moment had only been a split second glance as he passed by, but it stayed burned in Sang’s mind, that the next time he passed by the salon he purposely slowed down again to look through the window. He saw him again, with his bright pink hair and dangly earrings sitting and doing the nails of a customer. Other than his unique appearance, Sang wasn’t quite sure what drew him to the young man. He wondered briefly, if it was his smile. Though half of his face was always covered by a face mask, Sang could still see the way his eyes scrunched up every time he chatted with his coworkers or to a customer. It was so obvious that he loved his job, and that made Sang infinitely more curious.

And, well, Sang admitted that his nails could use some work. Why not just go in once and see what the guy could really do?

The only problem of course, was that he had told himself that three weeks ago, and he had yet to actually make it into the salon. If anything, the workers probably thought he was insane given the amount of times he’s awkwardly stood in front of their door doing absolutely nothing before going red in the face and walking off.

When he attempted to explain the whole situation to his friend Jeup, the older man could only roll his eyes. “Seriously, do you just want me to go in with you? If you stand in front of their door any more times they’re gonna call the police.”

Despite the jab, Sang brightened at Jeup’s suggestion. “Wait, you’d really go?”

Jeup shrugged. “I have some friends who work there, why not?”

Sang was filled with a newfound vigor as they both made plans to meet up after their classes were over for the day so they could head out to the salon. If worse came to worst, he could always just make Jeup do all the talking instead of him.

And just as they had promised, they went down the familiar street towards the salon, and the vigor that had previously powered Sang through the rest of his classes was quickly beginning to fade away as he and Jeup got closer and closer to their destination. Then finally, it was completely gone and Sang was slightly hunched over behind Jeup, like he was trying to hide.

“They’re going to think I’m weird.” Sang mumbled, wondering if he could make a break for it without Jeup catching him and dragging him back.

“They wouldn’t be completely wrong,” Jeup retorted, “now come on.” 

And without even giving Sang any time to prepare himself emotionally, Jeup pushed open the door and dragged Sang in, the cold feeling of air conditioning and a strong smell of nail polish washing over both of them. As soon as they entered, the cheery young man that Sang often saw the pink haired man chatting with popped up from behind the register to welcome them.

“Hey guys! Do you have an appointment?”

“Don’t worry about it Jungha, I’ll take care of these two.” Another voice popped up.

Jungha gave the two of them a small wave before they both turned to see another man with dark brown hair saunter up to them and immediately flick Jeup on the forehead.

“What are _you_ doing here?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Is it so bad that I come and visit one of my absolute favorite people in the whole world?” Jeup whined, rubbing his forehead.

“Jian doesn’t get here for another hour.”

“You know I meant you!”

The only response Jeup got was an eyeroll.

Jeup ignored that motion and turned to Sang. “This rude man is my friend Taeho. He works here.”

“Yeah, I can tell.” Sang quipped.

That made Taeho grin.”Oooh, stalker boy has some bite. I like him better than you already.”

“Stalker boy?” Sang felt his cheeks redden.

“So, are you going to like, paint our nails or something or is your only job here insulting the customers?” Jeup interrupted. 

“Don’t worry, since you’re my good friend the insults are just a free bonus.” Taeho only teased momentarily before his expression turned businesslike as he returned to work mode, his fake customer service smile plastered firmly on his face. “Well alright, since I already know Jeup doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing, I’ll take him to the back and give him a pedicure.” He then turned to Sang. “And I assume you want a manicure?”

“...How did you know?”

“You’ve stood in front of our fine establishment for uncomfortably long periods of time staring at your hands and then never coming in for the past three weeks, stalker boy.”

“I...I can’t argue with that.”

Taeho’s customer service face cracked slightly as he tried not to laugh at what Sang said, but he quickly returned to form. “Anyways, I’ll have you go to Ungjae, the one with the bright pink hair, you can’t miss him.” 

Taeho turned him towards Ungjae, and Sang was very quickly reminded as to why he had been so anxious about actually entering the nail salon. He was face to face with the object of his fascination, and Jeup wasn’t with him, as he had already been escorted away by Taeho. Ungjae seemed to be unbothered by Sang’s awkward shuffle towards him, and he only smiled brightly at him as he stiffly sat down trying not to look like a total fool. He was already in a whirlwind of emotions, Ungjae’s smile was already so bright when it was hidden behind the mask, but now the mask was pulled down and his grin was on full display. Sang was pretty sure he was going to leave the salon completely blind.

“You know, I’m going to need your hands for this whole manicure thing to work.” Ungjae teased him, his eyes scrunching up the same way Sang would see through the window. Unfortunately, Ungjae had already pulled his face mask up, clearly ready to get to work.

“Sorry!” Sang almost slapped his hands onto the table, and he had to ignore the stinging of his palms. “I don’t know much about this stuff...like at all.”

Ungjae just waved him off. “There’s a first time for everyone. Now what colors do you want? Or do you want to start off simple and just have some clear polish?”

Sang hadn’t actually been prepared for this question. He had never expected to get to this far. He just kind of assumed he’d finally just decide to change his route to school so he’d never see Ungjae ever again. Seeing the wall of all shades of polish imaginable was a little overwhelming. He could only stare blankly for a few moments until he finally thought to look down at Ungjae’s nails (surprisingly simple in comparison to the rest of Ungjae’s boisterous looks, with only plain peachy pink nails and a black rose design on the thumb nails.)

“So? Have you decided?” Ungjae pressed gently.”

“...black?” Sang responded, choosing the color that was currently in his direct line of vision.

Ungjae suppressed a laugh and Sang immediately felt a bit self-conscious. “Oh, I’m sorry! Don’t look so worried, it’s just not a color people usually pick for their first manicure. I like it!” 

Sang relaxed almost immediately, as he watched Ungjae get to work filing his nails. This whole thing was surprisingly more calming than expected, and just as he’d suspected, Ungjae seemed to be really into what he was doing.

“So...why nails?”

“Hmm?” Ungjae glanced up at him before going back to focus on Sang’s cuticles.

“What got you into doing nails?”

Ungjae shrugged. “Dunno, really. I just thought it sounded fun after Jungha brought it up, and then we both ended up with jobs here. Then I roped in Taeho, and he roped in Jian.”

“Couldn’t manage Jeup, huh?”

Ungjae laughed, and shook his head. “Jeup is good at a lot of things. Singing, for one. But we tried to teach him and it just failed terribly. Plus--” They were interrupted by a screech.

Both of them turned to see Jeup cowering on one of the seats in the back.

“That water is too hot! It’s _way_ too hot! Are you purposely trying to burn me Taeho?!” Jeup shrieked.

Taeho only sighed. “It’s the same temperature as everyone else, stop being a _baby_.” He grabbed Jeup’s feet and shoved them back into the foot bath, ignoring the very high pitched whining sounds.

“...Plus, that.” Ungjae finished, as they both turned away snickering.

Sang watched as Ungjae began carefully painting Sang’s nails completely black. He frowned slightly, somewhat regretting his color choice. His nails seemed a bit...dark.

“It’s gonna be shiny right? Nail polish is usually like that.”

Ungjae nodded. “Unless I use a matte topcoat.”

“Oh...yeah I don’t want that.”

Ungjae smiled without looking up from his nails. “Extra glossy, just for you.”

“Sang. My name is Sang.” Sang said suddenly, realizing he had never properly introduced himself.

Ungjae nodded, and Sang could see just the tiniest hint of a smile from the way the corners of Ungjae’s eyes crinkled. “Extra glossy, just for Sang.”

Both of them were quiet for a moment, before Sang spoke up again as Ungjae was finishing up. “Could you add something else to my nails?”

“What were you thinking?” Ungjae asked.

Sang thought for a moment. “I don’t know, maybe a flower like the ones on yours?”

Ungjae looked at his thumb. “Alright! Any color you have in mind?”

“I like the pink you have.”

Ungjae winked at him coyly. “Trying to copy, I see.” 

Sang felt his cheeks grow warm. “N-no! I just thought they looked cool.” 

“Alrighty, some pink roses on your thumbs, coming up!” Ungjae got the same peachy polish that matched his own nails and began to work on the small detailing of his thumbs. “By the way, I was going to ask you. Why spend so much time in front of the salon without coming in? None of us bite, if anything Jungha was more scared you’d bite.”

“Ah…I just noticed you working one day and was too shy to come in to say hello.” Sang admitted, figuring it was better to be honest.

Ungjae looked at him curiously. “Me?”

Sang nodded. “Yeah, I dunno you just always seemed so happy painting nails, it just ...kinda fascinated me I guess.”

For the first time during their meeting, Ungjae seemed to be the one caught of guard. He stopped for just a moment and looked at Sang in surprise, and his eyes scrunched in just the way that made Sang’s heart melt a little bit.

“That’s really nice of you to say.” Ungjae murmured.

He finished up Sang’s nails and put them under the nail dryer. Both of them had fallen into a nice silence, sharing amused glances at each other as Jeup continued to give Taeho a difficult time until the aforementioned Jian finally arrived to give Taeho the chance to quickly tap out and leave considerably softer Jian to tend to their loud and whiny friend.

“Well, you’re all done Sang.” Ungjae said, finally pulling down his facemask again and giving him a soft smile. “You can go up front to Jungha to pay.”

Sang really didn’t want to go, not after waiting for so long to just meet Ungjae, but there were already some people waiting for their own appointments, so he stood up and went over to pay, with Jeup following soon after.

“That wasn’t relaxing at all.” Jeup moaned, as they exited the salon.

“Oh, I dunno. I might come back.” Sang looked at his own nails in admiration. Ungjae did an amazing job.

Jeup nudged him on the shoulder. “You wanna come back to manicures, or for Ungjae?”

“Can’t it be both?”

Jeup only laughed.

Now, every day as Sang walked down the street, he still passed by all the boutiques, food joints, and all the odds and ends stores. But whenever he’d pass by the nail salon he’d raise his hand in greeting. He’d usually get a cheerful wave from Jungha or Jian, a head nod from Taeho, but most importantly, he’d get the brightest and most open smile from Ungjae, who seemed to always make sure to pull down his facemask just to grin at him as he passed by.

And one day, instead of him being the one standing awkwardly outside of the nail salon wondering if he should walk in, he approached the salon on his way home only to see Ungjae waiting patiently inside, waiting to pop out when Sang passed. Ungjae was playing with the hem of his sleeve, his nails still perfectly painted peachy pink with a black rose on his thumbs, the perfect mirror to Sang’s own black and pink.

Ungjae smiled at him as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. “Hey I was just wondering…”

“Hmm?”

“Do you want to go get a coffee sometime?”

“Sang’s lips twitched up into a smile.

“I’d love to.”


End file.
